Where do songs come from? Everything They Say

"Everything They Say' was recorded at the Xandor sessions in 1979 and was the only song to be completed that day, with others being taken away for additional overdubs and re-recording and a couple more left incomplete. It was written and demoed 
t the Family Compound in February. In fact, that first recording, featuring only my voice and guitar, was deemed good enough to be mooted for inclusion on the album until the Xandor version, with it's layered vocals and minimal piano riff, edged it out at the last minute. 

The chord progression was originally in C but I capoed up to E to break things up and make it a little peppier - the result is a melody and rhythm that's unusual for me. I've found that different keys tend to bring out different types of songs - E suggests rock 'n roll and blues, G feels like pop and country (country pop?), C calls for folk-type stylings and so on.   A favorite of mine, it has proven to be one of the more popular songs on the album. The words came later and are the first draft. I decided to leave the subject vague and not edit the lyrics to make them, like most of my other songs, about something in particular. During the Let It Be sessions in 1969, John Lennon offered George Harrison a bit of songwriting advice: if you can't come up with the lyrics right away just put anything there as a placeholder until inspiration strikes. "Just say 'attracts me like a pomegranate' for now"' he suggested when his bandmate asked for help completing a line. I used John's (quite logical, when you think about it) method when writing lyrics for this song and ended up liking what I came up with and letting the verses stand.

I see your name on the old marquee.

Right where mine used to be

I see your face in the upcoming show

Right where mine used to go

You've been picking up on all my friends

What kind of stories are you telling them

'Cause everything they say...

I remember your blue nightgown

The one you wore when it got cold

I kept a fire in a lonely place

'Til you were warm enough to hold

You've been picking up on all my friends

What kind of stories are you telling them

/Cause everything they say...

(repeat)

Full disclosure: I did change it just a little. The last line of the chorus originally ended with "..isn't wrong" but I dropped it to add to the mystery. 

                      Of course it was performed when Won Out turned 25. We had enough singers                                                                                   to get the vocals right! 

"Speaking of heroes - I always looked up to the guy who changed the letters on the marquee" said me once, in an impressive display of the humorous humor I'm capable of when in the right mood, place and time. We still perform this song. The second verse reminds me of Arlene. She's no longer with us but lives on in those lines.

I'm gonna igloo out of here for now - snow time like the present!

Well golly here's a little more:

In the mid-60's a singer named Dee Dee Sharp had a hit with a song called "Mashed Potato Time". The Mashed Potato was a dance that involved sliding your feet in place and twitching as if you were mashing potatoes. With your feet. Yeah, I know. Was there ever a dance called Grape Stomping? Let me look,,,well, not according to Google although there is a traditional grape stomping party where participants laugh, drink and make merry while stomping said grapes. Anyway, Dee Dee had another hit with the song "Slow Twisting" that was a duet with Chubby Checker, Mr. Twist himself. The songs were on her first album which was titled, of all things, Mashed Potato Time. We owned that album back then and I still remember most of the songs : "Eddie My Love ", "Gravy" and her version of "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman" which had been a hit for Patti Labelle and the Bluebells. Here's a Mandela Effect kinda thing: There's a song by Dee Dee called "Set My Heart At Ease" that I always remembered as being on the album but I recently discovered that it's not - it's the B-side to to the "Mashed Potato Time" single. On second thought maybe it's not so Mandela. It was a bog-standard doo-wop ballad with bog-standard doo-wop lyrics, but I always liked it. When I was composing for the Bonkeenies I dredged it up from the swamp of memory and rewrote it with funny lyrics. It was one of our favorites to play. "You held me so near / that I spilled my beer / that night behind the penitentiary" 

               Dee Dee Sharp. C'mon - it's a great name! Would be a great name for a group, too